366 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
sions, and answered the same purpose as beads in 
Roman Catholic worship, reminding the priest or the 
worshipper of the order of his prayers. On the tough 
and stiff stalks of the leaflets, the candle-nuts, em¬ 
ployed for lighting their houses, were strung when 
used. 
Round that part of the stem of the leaf which is 
attached to the trunk of the tree, there is a singular 
provision of nature, for the security of the long leaves 
against the violence of the winds. A remarkably fine, 
strong, fibrous matting, attached to the bark under the 
bottom of the stalk, extending half vray round the trunk, 
and reaching perhaps two or three feet up the leaf, 
acting like a bracing of network to each side of the 
stalk, keeps it steadily fixed to the trunk. While the 
leaves are young, this substance is remarkably white, 
transparent, and as fine in texture as silver paper. In 
this state it is occasionally cut into long narrow slips, 
tied up in bunches, and used by the natives to ornament 
their hair. Its remarkable flexibility, beautiful whiter 
ness, and glossy surface, render it a singularly novel, 
light, and elegant plume ; the effect of which is height¬ 
ened by its contrast with the black and shining ringlets 
of the native hair it surmounts. As the leaf increases 
in size, and the matting is exposed to the air, it becomes 
coarser and stronger, assuming a yellowish colour, 
and IS called Aa. 
There is a kind of seam along the centre, exactly 
under the stem of the leaf, from both sides of which 
long and tough fibres, about the size of a bristle, regu¬ 
larly diverge in an oblique direction. Sometimes there 
appear to be two layers of fibres, which cross each 
other, and the whole is cemented with a still finer. 
